Upon Further Review: Duck pass defense, play calling

After spotting Missouri State a quick 7-0 lead, Oregon came back to lead at the end of the first quarter 14-7 and 35-7 at the half. Some observers are concerned about Oregon’s slow start (again) and inability to totally dominate a weaker football team.

It’s obvious that the Ducks took the Bears lightly, at least initially, and you can’t blame them given what their opponent must have looked like on film before the game. You are not psychologically able to be “up” all the time for games, especially those in a mis-match. In this game, at least, the Ducks played turnover and penalty-free football through the first half. By comparison, anyone remember the Indiana game at Autzen years ago? Opening kickoff is returned for touchdown by Ducks (called back), five lost fumbles and the result is an embarrassing loss to a poor football team, at home.

My observation of “non-assertive or lack of aggressive defensive line play” is that we’ve seen both a combination of conservative defensive calls and limited (due to experience) “expertise” by the big men up front. Incidentally, the physicality of defensive linemen is not restricted to height and weight, but the ability to use their hands effectively. This is the subject of my X’s and O’s pre-game column which will appear in the Guard Saturday morning.

Another reason for basic defensive play early in this season is that none of the Ducks’ opponents, or their offensive personnel, required it. That, plus Oregon is breaking in some new starters and backups on what last year was a deep defensive front. This week, the heat is turned up, because both Arizona’s offense (passing, fifth in the country) and quarterback, Nick Foles, will require a more sophisticated approach in trying to get heat on the passer.

Some have said the reason the Ducks have only three sacks is that they have yet to play a passing team (and their haven’t been that many chances), yet it is reasonable to expect that you could get a couple of sacks even against a team that throws less than 30 times as did Nevada and Missouri State. Their have been only two tipped passes by Oregon rushers and the basic blitzes shown by the Ducks (mostly from the outside and many of them zone blitzes), have not brought much pressure. This has to change, fast.

If you ask opposing Pac-12 coaches about Oregon’s defense over the years, you don’t hear much criticism at all, in fact, mostly praise for how the Duck coaches get their players to hustle, tackle well and make big plays. Last year, you had Bair, Rowe, Matthews, and Paysinger among the front “big play” guys. This year, you can’t name one, mostly because they’ve only played three games, two of them against easy opponents. However, if you can’t name a “big play” play maker for the Oregon defense after this game, it will be because they lost.

Looking back at one offensive formation that has given Oregon fits over the past decade, it would have to be a wing set. Arizona tooled the Ducks with that formation in their last win at Autzen Stadium, and OSU and UCLA have also had good luck (touchdowns, long gains) with the set. There have been times when either the wing or tight end blocks while the back to that side releases down the sideline, and with play action, the corner commits to the run and the back goes by him deep. If the blocker releases late outside behind the back and the corner covers the first receiver properly, the second receiver has often been open.

In fact, covering the second receiver to the weak side (the single receiver, either split or tight) has been Oregon’s Achilles heel in some big losses to BCS perennials. In Oregon’s loss to Boise State at Autzen, the Broncos scored their decisive touchdown when they motioned a back outside on third down with linebacker Casey Matthews bumping out to cover him. (Oregon’s outside linebacker should have taken over, but missed the check, so the Ducks were stuck with their middle linebacker trying to cover a wide receiver who lined up in the backfield). Result? Touchdown, Broncos.

In the Rose Bowl in the fourth quarter, Ohio State caught the Ducks in a zone blitz and the Buckeyes guessed correctly, sending their tight end deep, taking the corner with him, and then releasing a fast fullback up the sideline. Kenny Rowe was the drop end, charged with covering the back and he was just one step slow. Result? Big gain, which set up the winning touchdown.

In last year’s national championship game, Auburn scored a touchdown, again, against a Duck zone blitz as the Tigers have a slot formation to the weak side, with the end running a deep post and the slot running an out-and-up route down the sideline. Unfortunately, Rowe was once again stuck on the faster receiver (the slot ) man-to-man and he had no chance. Result? Tiger Touchdown.

When a defensive coach calls a blitz, he must anticipate the potential plays that call must defend. My preference is that in a crucial situation, I would have secondary players covering the best receivers and have the best pass rushers rush the passer, not dropping into coverage. Former USC coach Pete Carroll ran the zone blitz all the time, and the year the Ducks got 47 on the Trojans was a result of many times, the drop end being forced to defend the option after backing up on the snap of the ball. On the blitz side of the zone blitz defense, USC never really got much pressure on Masoli or last year against Darron Thomas.

If you’re into it, keep track of Oregon blitzes: down and distance, field position. See if you can determine if Arizona has a plan to attack the defense. Two years ago, they ran the heck out of quick screens and perimeter passes and last year the same, plus more. Watching them against Stanford, which this year, appears to be an improved defensive team, I would say that the Wildcats’ pass offense is as good as ever.

In the second half last year, the Duck defense finally got to Foles, sacking him, hurrying him, and tipping balls. That was the forte of last year’s defense—they were patient, disciplined and kept coming and eventually wore down the two best passing teams they faced: Stanford and Arizona.

I would expect to see some new blitzes, particularly involving defenders coming up the middle to try and flush Foles sideways, out of the pocket. Remember that the Oregon linebackers inside don’t have a lot of (experience) repetitions, and this might limit what Duck coaches feel their players can handle.

There have been questions regarding Oregon’s offensive play calling, the desired ratios, etc. Traditionally, the Ducks have run about 60% of the time and passed the other 40%. When things are going well on the line of scrimmage, you might see them run even more, but when they pass more than 40%, it’s usually a sign the running game is getting stuffed. I don’t think there is an ideal ratio of run to pass, a ratio that would guarantee success or victory. Often, game situations, coaching adjustments and decisions will impact what that ratio ends up being, but a majority of coaches would tell you that running the ball is the primary goal of a good offense. To have a good running offense, you must be able to control, even dominate, the line of scrimmage, and that usually results in a “W.”

If you could ask Coach Kelly, (and if he would tell you), he’d probably say that he doesn’t care about the ratio, just that the offense executes well in both the run and passing games. Experience coaching and watching west coast football tells me that at some time in a game and season, you absolutely must be able to pass the ball to win. This was the keystone of Mike Bellotti’s offensive philosophy. He believed that because there were too many good offenses and too many great offensive skilled players in the league, you had be able to throw the ball to win, even when everyone knows that’s what you have to do. This has been an issue for Oregon since Bellotti retired.

Nick Foles is the kind of quarterback who can make up for a lot of other problems, but maybe not their most pressing one: the lack of a decent running game. You can bet they will watch very closely the running schemes of LSU, Nevada, and Missouri State for ideas they can incorporate into their offensive philosophy and formations. Until then, the main question is, “Can Nick Foles, all by himself, pass Arizona to victory?”

*Questions are encouraged. Know that if you ask they will be addressed mid-week in “Upon Further Review.” Please keep in mind that the focus of the blog is to talk football, strategy and techniques and is not a place where we’re interested in who should be fired, hired or benched. We’re also not interested in reading disrespectful comments about opponents—everyone has the right to be proud of the team they root for or the school they attended, whether it’s yours, or anybody else’s.*

Ken Woody is a former Fox Sports football commentator who played defensive back, receiver and kicker for Oregon from 1966 to 1970. He coached college football for 18 years, including stints as an assistant coach at Oregon, Washington, WSU and Utah State, and was head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis.